Category: APS News

Champion of Champion by Robert Odenweller and John Hotchner. This August, the 50th Champion of Champions will be crowned during StampShow. Here is a look back at the roots and growth of our premier exhibiting competition, the World Series of Philately, and some of those who shaped and participated in this exhibiting event.

Fort Ticonderoga (Scott 1071) by Charles Posner. The Fort Ticonderoga stamp of 1955 was designed through a contest and led to the establishment of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee two years later. This stamp also was part of the PMG’s quest to improve American postage stamp design.

’Round the World in 343 Days by Chuck Fisher. A colorful cover, mailed in January 1891 in Germany finally settled back in Germany more than 11 months later. In between, it traveled to four more continents, leaving several mysteries in its wake.

Collecting Coast to Coast. When First-Day Battles Raged, by Wayne L. Youngblood. Pioneer U.S. cachetmakers fought with the U.S. Post Department over what was acceptable, or not, in their designs.

Expertizing: West Berlin Stamp in Center Ring, by Tom Horn. Identifying the different years of issue in of a continuing design of West Berlin stamps is easy: All you have to do is watch which way the clapper in the bell swings.

Worldwide in a Nutshell: Kuwait, by Bob Lamb. The first stamps of Kuwait were overprinted British stamps. The independent state, a sheikdom, started issuing its own stamps a couple years before it gained full independence in 1961.

For the rest of this month through June, the American Philatelic Society travel schedule is filling up! We will continue to be representing the Society throughout the country visiting clubs and stamp shows during our #StampTour2017.

Here’s a list of upcoming stops with links to the club/show/meeting locations. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Steve Cimino and Sandy Rose visited from the Washington D.C. area and gave a brief presentation about the credit union’s services, including savings and checking accounts, loans, certificates of deposit, financial counseling services, and 24-hour online service.

All APS members are eligible to join the credit union. Anyone can learn more about the credit union’s services by visiting its website (www.uspsfcu.org), or by calling 800-877-7328.

The Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship (YPLF) program provides Fellows with a year-long experience traveling to three APS national shows and opportunities to learn from seasoned collectors, exhibitors, writers and dealers.

For application materials and more about the YPLF program go to the website. Or contact us via the form below:

Our Stampionship paired stamps from two Peace issues of 1946 — Canada’s 8-cent Eastern (sometimes Ontario) Farm scene stamp and a 9-cent New Zealand Southern Alps and Chapel. Canada won 59 percent of the vote in the fourth and final round of the balloting, which concluded at midnight April 10.

Voting was open to members of the APS and public.

It seems fitting that the Canada stamp was victorious in that 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada. To celebrate that milestone, this July’s edition of The American Philatelist will be dedicated to Canada with special articles about Canadian philately.

To reach the final round, the Canada Farm stamp, part of the Americas Division in our 16-stamp competition, defeated stamps from Chad, India and the U.S. (World’s Fair). New Zealand, originally in the Pacific Division, triumphed over Switzerland, scored a big upset over the U.S. Project Mercury stamp, and then barely beat an Elephant stamp from Laos in the semifinal.

Prizes are being rewarded via random draws in the contest, including from those who chose the winning stamp and a pre-tournament Predict the Winner contest in which registrants tried to pick the eventual winner from the field of 16. (By the way, only four entries predicted Canada would win, while 19 picked New Zealand.)

John Perquin, of Pennsylvania, from the Preview contest, was chosen as our grand prize winner of a 2005 U.S. Postal Service Yearbook, which includes $51.43 in face-value stamps.

Jerry Derr, of Colorado, was among those who voted for Canada in the championship round. His name was chosen to win a The Civil War (1994) commemorative stamp book from the U.S. Postal Service.

Two contestants, one from the preview and one from the championship, were selected to win copies of the APS-published book, Cataloging U.S. Commemorative Stamps: 1950 (2016) by Charles Posner. Congratulations to John Murphy, of New York, and Blair Stannard, of Ontario, Canada.